The Talk of the Town(1942).

The Talk of the Town(1942). Cast: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman, Edgar Buchanan, and Glenda Farrell. The movie was adapted by Dale Van Every, Irwin Shaw and Sidney Buchman from the story by Sidney Harmon. It was directed by George Stevens.

Mill worker and political activist Leopold Dilg is accused of burning down a mill and causing the death of the foreman. In the middle of his trial, Dilg escapes from jail and finds shelter in a house owned by his old friend Nora Shelley.



 Shelley has the house rented for the summer to law Professor Michael Lightcap, who plans to write a book. When Dilg is seen by Lightcap, Shelley introduces him as her gardener. Lightcap and Dilg quickly become friends.

Over some things that had been said during one of their lively discussions over politics, Lightcap becomes suspicious of what is really going on and begins to investigate. He finds that the former foreman is still alive and hiding in Boston. Dilg is persuaded to return to town and admit his guilt. Will Lightcap convinces Dilg give himself up and be set free?

The acting is very good. Cary Grant, plays a very different roll than I'm used to seeing him in.. Ronald Coleman is also good as his rival and Jean Arthur is great she steals scene after scene.

Fun Fact:

Lloyd Bridges' tiny role was one of 20 film appearances he made in 1942 .

Glenda Farrell (June 30, 1904 – May 1, 1971), came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. Farrell began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played Little Eva in, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

She was in the cast of ,Cobra and The Best People with actress Charlotte Treadway, in 1925.

Farrell was first signed to a long-term contract by First National Pictures in July 1930. She was given the feminine lead in, Little Caesar.

Warner Brothers signed her to re-create on film the role she played in, Life Begins on Broadway. Farrell worked on parts in twenty movies in her first year with the studio. She was known a the wise-cracking, dizzy blonde of the early talkies, along with  Joan Blondell, with whom she often would be paired with.

She went on to perform in, Little Caesar (1931) opposite Edward G. Robinson, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), Havana Widows (1933) with Blondell, Bureau of Missing Persons (1933) opposite Pat O'Brien, Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) opposite Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray and The Big Shakedown (1934) with Bette Davis.

She became one of Warner Brothers most popular actresses of the 1930s, solidifying her success with her own film series, as Torchy Blane, "Girl Reporter". In this role Farrell was promoted as being able to speak 400 words in 40 seconds. Farrell would portray the character Torchy Blane in eight films, from 1937 to 1939 when the role was taken over by Jane Wyman.

In 1937 she starred opposite Dick Powell and Joan Blondell in the Academy Award nominated Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley directed musical Gold Diggers(1937).

When her Warner Brothers contact expired in 1939 she focused more on her stage career once again. She said that working in plays gave her more of a sense of individuality whereas in films you get frustrated because you feel you have no power over what you're doing.

Farrell went out of vogue in the 1940s but made a comeback later in life, winning an Emmy Award in 1963, for her work in the television series, Ben Casey.